Rendering a Circle in Intarsia

Knitting graphical images has quite a learning curve! Especially when it comes to producing an even, attractive circle.

Recently completed experiments include an intarsia block and a simple spiral.

Clearly, the practicing has just begun...

Circle made by sewing a long, narrow strip into a spiral form

On the left, a first attempt at using intarsia knitting to make a circle -- central area needs decoration

Possible colors for decorating intarsia circle

More "Light" Reading

Here is one more group of books from my "Mature Mind" class reading list.

These cover mirror neurons, body maps, and "an irrationally positive outlook on life." How the mind works remains one of humankind's greatest mysteries, but fresh information is radically changing our understanding. I am grateful to the authors who make new discoveries in brain science accessible to curious readers.

Adaptable Brains

Here are more books from my "Mature Mind" class reading list.

Conventional wisdom once held that the hardware of the brain was fixed and immutable -- that we were stuck with what we were born with. With the rapid growth of brain science, it is turning out that few of the old, 20th-century assumptions about aging and the workings of one's brain are valid in the 21st century!

The brain is capable of altering its own structure and can generate new neurons, even into old age. Our potential to transform ourselves remains ours as long as we wish to claim it.

Creativity for Boomers

I wanted to get some more books from my "Mature Mind" class into the blog.

Apparently, after reaching 50, one's brain will have changed in such a way that creative expression has just begun to blossom.

From the dust jacket of Gene Cohen's The Creative Age:

"He offers compelling evidence that the unique combination of age, experience, and creativity can produce exciting inner growth and infinite potential for anyone."

Richard J. Davidson

One of the books on the reading list for my Gerontology class, "The Mature Mind," is neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson's book, The Emotional Life of Your Brain. (2012)

Based on neural activity recorded in (and between) specific brain circuits, the book outlines six "dimensions" of emotional style and suggests how each might be altered, were a person to practice thinking about her thoughts in fresh ways.

One of my favorite chapters describes findings of fMRI scans taken while Tibetan monks meditated.

Dr. Davidson's book made me look at the brain in a new, exciting way!

Pithy Circle, Take Four

Last month, Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pithy Circular Blanket began its journey through my project queue.

It might have been a jacket, but I found the circular design leaves one's neck and tummy chilly.

So, I kept knitting, thinking it could be a floor-length coat. Trying it on squelched that notion. (It felt like wearing a tablecloth.)

One could unravel the sleeves and declare it a blanket...

Or:  Keep knitting until one has a seven-foot blanket, with sleeves. Add embroidered turtles, trilobites, chrinoids, and ginkos. It will be a good "canvas" for trying out graphical techniques.

When one just keeps knitting to see what will happen, it is hard to predict the result!

Experimental "coat" with partially done sleeves

The imagined "coat" turned out a bit wacky -- fortunately, a circle-shaped blanket will be quite useful around the house

Neuroplasticity

This blog began as a record of spinning and weaving projects, but nine months later it appears it will be about brain science AND fiberarts.

I don't want posts to be too wordy, though. (That is for the authors of the brain science books!) In posting I hope to take a "zinger" or two, add a dash of homemade art, and show the author and title of my source.

Today's entry:  For centuries we believed the adult brain was fixed and unchanging. Through a revolutionary discovery called neuroplasticity, we now know that the brain can change its own structure and function, even into old age.

Time to start learning the parts of the brain, and what they do!

Top view of brain showing two halves -- the four lobes shown in color above come in two sets, a left and a right

Dr. Doidge's book on neuroplasticity is full of stories of the brain rebuilding parts of itself